Mick’s Gallery

Mike Bundock – lcpl USMC

AS A NEWBIE TO THE ACCORDION PLAYING AND SOME MINOR REPAIRING, I HAVE BEEN CONFUSED BY THE “TERM” SOUND BOX’ “TONE BOX” “TONE CHAMBER” , GETTING THE IMPRESSION THAT THIS IS SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL, OR COULD BE ADDED ON LIKE WIRE WHEELS ON A JAG, CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY THE TONE CHAMBER IS SO MYSTERIOUS? THANKS MIKE

mhursey

Hi Mike,

Thanks for looking at my website. All of the terms you have referred to, are alternative ways of describing the Cassotto chamber (not very mysterious I’m afraid). If you look on my website on the Accordion drop down menu, you will see a link to Cassotto and there are a couple of diagrams and a brief explanation to their use. Unfortunately, unlike wire wheels, it’s not something that can be added to an accordion due to the very different design of the keys and reed blocks it would be uneconomical to change. However, there are some accordion manufacturers like Scandalli, that emulate the Cassotto sound by adding grill mutes which I guess could be done as an add-on if you were really determined.
I hope this helps,